Millions of crime fans know her as “Tatort” detective Charlotte Lindholm, now it turns out Maria Furtwängler in a completely different role: In the MeToo drama “Until the Truth”, the 58-year-old plays a successful doctor who is raped by her best friend’s son and initially keeps the crime quiet – when the truth comes to light, she has to face it Face trauma and skeptical reactions in your environment. Cornelia Wystrichowski spoke to Furtwängler.
Ms. Furtwängler, in your new film you play a woman who is raped by her best friend’s son. What feelings did you have going into filming?
Maria Furtwängler: It was a very special project for me because I had the idea for it and produced the film myself. The topic is very close to my heart, and it was important to me to break through the usual narrative patterns that are unfortunately often the order of the day in films about sexualized violence. The protagonist is not the young, innocent woman who is below the man in the power differential, and the perpetrator is not the oft-told strange man who jumps out of the bushes. We know that in many cases such acts take place within one’s own four walls and the culprit comes from the social environment.
A study by your MaLisa Foundation has shown that a third of all television formats depict explicit gender-specific violence, often serious violence against women…
Furtwängler: I find that shocking. In many crime and reality crime formats, and this was also the case in “Tatorten” that I shot, at the beginning you see a young, attractive and, if possible, naked female corpse. Then the investigation begins, and at the end you may still understand the perpetrator’s desperation because he had a terrible home. The perspective of the victim is simply taken far too rarely. I’m very happy that with our film we can contribute a new perspective that is simply underrepresented given the frequency of the narrative.
How do you play a rape victim?
Furtwängler: Martina is not the typical victim, and I don’t want to show her as a victim who, after the crime, is just scared and stands in the shower scrubbing herself and won’t let herself be touched anymore. She has an active sexuality and she wants to reclaim it.
This is illustrated, among other things, with a masturbation scene. How much courage did that cost you?
Furtwängler: Of course I thought about whether I wanted to do that and how I would do it. To shoot something like this, you need a lot of trust in those involved. In the crucial scene I was only in the room with the director and the cameraman. That’s the absurd thing about acting, that you have to turn emotions and actions that you hide in normal everyday life into the outside world.
Unlike in the past, films today have intimacy coordinators in charge of scenes that involve nudity or violence.
Furtwängler: I’m very glad that this exists today. Incidentally, such scenes are not without their problems for men either. This also applies to Pasquale Aleardi, who plays my husband in the film and with whom I had a very intimate scene. It’s so pleasant when you discuss everything in detail beforehand and can say: I can be touched here and not here. The “private parts”, as it is called in English, are protected and taped off so that you can move around freely without fear that something could go wrong. By the way, hygiene is also an important point. Nowadays they say very clearly: Here you have a toothbrush and here is the antibacterial mouthwash, you can now gargle with it.
And was it different before?
Furtwängler: I’ve experienced the most unpleasant things while filming, not least when it comes to oral hygiene. I remember a much older man I was married to in the film who was chain smoking and then I had to kiss him. Nobody said to him before: You, but the tongue stays in. It was just horrible. In the past, actresses didn’t dare to defend themselves, and they didn’t pay attention to bed scenes either. That has changed a lot.
Also read:
Our streaming tips for November
What do you notice when you sit in front of the television?
Furtwängler: That there are crime novels, crime novels and more crime novels. Of course, I also benefit from this in my capacity as a “Tatort” actress, no question. But it’s crazy how we Germans love all kinds of crime thrillers. Landscape crime novels, humorous crime novels, Scandinavian crime novels. That’s why I’m glad that we were able to tell such an intense television play, which hardly exists anymore.
Could you have imagined the film with a male director?
Furtwängler: I don’t want to rule that out. And I am happy that in Saralisa Volm I was able to find a director who has dealt with her own experiences with sexualized violence in her non-fiction book “The Eternal Insufficient”. I think you can see the female gaze in our film.
Have you ever had to deal with rape victims in your capacity as a doctor?
Furtwängler: Yes, for example when I worked as a doctor for German Doctors in India. I experienced how shameful the topic of rape is. That’s why I find the one sentence that is now often heard in connection with the terrible Avignon trial so extremely important: Shame must change sides.
The French woman Gisele Pelicot was allegedly not only drugged and raped by her husband for years, but also offered to other men for abuse in an internet forum. And she made it a point to ensure that the trial took place in public.
Furtwängler: The message is: women need to stop being ashamed – men need to take the responsibility and the shame. If we could make a small contribution through the film to changing the side of shame, that would be great.
As a woman, to what extent do you always feel safe in everyday life?
Furtwängler: I don’t think any woman always feels safe. We all know the uneasy feeling when we are out somewhere in the evening and suddenly hear a man’s footsteps behind us. That we change sides, that fear is often present in parking garages. And that’s why I get so annoyed when men now say: Because of the whole MeToo thing, I don’t even dare to ride in the elevator alone with a woman anymore, not that she’ll say afterwards that I’ve harassed her.
A well-known German presenter recently said this in an interview…
Furtwängler: We women live our whole lives with the feeling that something could happen to us. It’s not too much to ask for a guy like that to take the next elevator. And we women shouldn’t say: “You’re right, the whole discussion is totally exaggerated.” No, it’s totally okay that men are now also insecure and it’s not always just us women.
To person
Maria Furtwängler was born in Munich in 1966 as the daughter of the actress Katharina Ackermann and the architect Bernhard Furtwängler; the legendary conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler is her great-uncle. Furtwängler studied medicine, received her doctorate and initially worked as a doctor before deciding to become an actor in 2001. Since 2002 she has played “Tatort” detective Charlotte Lindholm from Lower Saxony.
Married in 1991 Furtwängler meets the publisher and billionaire Hubert Burda; the two have two children. The couple announced their separation in 2022. With her daughter Elisabeth she runs the MaLisa Foundation for Diversity, Climate and Species Protection. The actress lives in Munich.
The MeToo drama “Until Truth” can be seen on ARD on Wednesday, November 20th at 8:15 p.m.
How can films effectively balance the portrayal of sensitive topics like sexual violence with the need to provide entertainment?
1. How important do you think it is for films to address sensitive topics like sexual violence against women?
2. What challenges did you face while preparing for the intimate scenes in “Until Truth,” and how did the intimacy coordinator help you?
3. How have attitudes towards nudity and violence in films changed over the years, and what role do you think actors and actresses play in shaping these changes?
4. Despite the ongoing discussion about female representation in crime dramas, why do you think Germans are still so fascinated with the genre?
5. Have you ever had to deal with rape victims in your capacity as a doctor, and how did that experience impact your perspective on the topic?
6. What are your thoughts on the MeToo movement and the conversations it has sparked around sexual harassment and assault?
7. As an actress, how do you navigate the balance between portraying characters who are victims of violence and promoting messages of empowerment?
8. As a woman, what are some of the biggest safety concerns you have in your everyday life, and how do you address them?
9. Do you think there’s a need for men to be more educated about consent and respect in their interactions with women, especially in professional settings?
10. What advice would you give to aspiring actresses who want to take on challenging roles like the one you played in “Until Truth,” and how can they best prepare for them?
